Microsoft patches dangerous security flaw in Age of Empires II
Microsoft released a record number of security patches on Tuesday, including a critical fix for the remastered version of the 25-year-old strategy game Age of Empires II, which could allow attackers to take over a computer by sending a malicious game invite.
On Tuesday, Microsoft issued a record-breaking number of security updates across its product line, partly thanks to the use of artificial intelligence that helped both the company and external researchers identify vulnerabilities. One of the patched flaws affected the remastered version of the classic 25-year-old war strategy video game Age of Empires II.
According to security researchers, the vulnerability allowed hackers to take over a victim's computer by sending a custom malicious game invite. A video posted on X demonstrated how the exploit works. Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 stated that a successful attack could allow hackers to place malicious files on the victim's computer and gain the ability to execute arbitrary code, effectively taking control of the machine.
There is no evidence that this bug was exploited in the wild, but targeting video gamers is an effective method for distributing malware and stealing passwords. The flaw is tracked as CVE-2026-50663 and was fixed in the latest Patch Tuesday update.
